"Court reverses convictions in aiding-suicide case" by Amy Forliti | Associated Press March 20, 2014
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed the convictions of a former nurse accused of encouraging two people whom he met online to kill themselves.
William Melchert-Dinkel was convicted in 2011 of two counts of aiding suicide. The judge said he ‘‘intentionally advised and encouraged’’ an English man and a Canadian woman to take their own lives.
The high court struck down a section of the state’s assisted suicide law that makes it a crime to ‘‘encourage’’ someone to commit suicide, but upheld part of the law that makes it a crime to ‘‘assist’’ someone’s suicide.
Since the lower court judge did not rule on whether Melchert-Dinkel ‘‘assisted’’ in a suicide, the high court sent the case back to that judge for further consideration.
‘‘It’s a legal system, it’s not a justice system. The two are completely different,’’ the Canadian woman’s mother, Deborah Chevalier, said by phone after learning of the ruling. ‘‘At the very least, the world knows what he’s done. . . . He can’t run away from that.’’
Her 18-year-old daughter, Nadia Kajouji, jumped into a frozen river in 2008.
According to Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster, who prosecuted the case, it is now up to the lower court judge to decide whether the evidence showed that Melchert-Dinkel ‘‘assisted’’ in the suicides.
Defense attorney Terry Watkins said he does not believe there is enough evidence to prove that.
Beaumaster disagreed. The court ruling says speech alone can be used to ‘‘assist’’ or enable a suicide if it goes beyond merely expressing a moral viewpoint or providing comfort or support.
Evidence showed he was obsessed with suicide and sought depressed people online. When he found them, he posed as a suicidal nurse, feigned compassion, and offered instructions on how they could kill themselves.
Melchert-Dinkel told police he did it for the ‘‘thrill of the chase.’’ According to court papers, he admitted participating in online chats on suicide with up to 20 people.
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